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Landscape & nature portfolios using images prints technique |
For landscape photography quality gear and excellent technique are of great importance. Landscape photography, at least for me, comes to live through the detailled image of our world.
Therefor I have always used medium format cameras and chosen professional films and labs. Today slide film is replaced by a digital back, enabling a workflow of very high quality. |
Untill 2007 all landscape & nature images are made on 6x6 slides.
I really like the square: all attention is drawn to the subject, the format doesn't intrude in the composition. Also very beautiful and special are the panorama combinations of 2 or 3 square prints.
Printed digitally on photographic papers, these slides deliver stunning enlargements: very sharp and colour true. The materials used are museum quality and guarantee a long life without loss of quality. The printing is done by a professional lab, specialized in slides.
From February 2007 I have been working with a high end 22MP digital back for the Rollei 6008. See a back to the future - new ways in my landscape photography for my first experiences.
Photographers can talk ad nauseam about their (and others') gear. Cameras, lenses, film, flashlights, tripods, digital vs. the old stuff, etc. etc. Flame wars about what brand is the better one, how to expose film, wouldn't one have it done better with that particular lens...
As a photographer I like talking like that, but this site is devoted to photography, not to photographic gear and technique. So you won't find endless lists of all kinds of brands and gear.
What I mention here is the kind of gear I use and why I chose these, without telling every detail.
My landscape and nature photographs are made with a medium format SLR. Projected 6x6 slides are really stunning in detail and sharpness and make you feel being in the midst of a scene. The prints also are very sharp and detailed with really good colour rendition. Alas, a computer screen simply can't do justice...
A concise history:
I had been using 35mm for some
years, when the seduction of medium
format grew to strong on me. I
already had a Yashica D TLR and was
very much in love.
But to prove for myself I could
really handle the medium format
workflow, I made during one summer
all my 35mm shots with a tripod and
with fixed focal lengths (Pentax MZ5
and smc pentax 28, 40, 50, 100 en 200 -
all manual focus). This
turned out great: it urged me to
think better and work harder, and
that showed in the resulting shots.
The year after that I bought a Bronica EC-TL with 50, 80 and 150 lenses and a set of extension tubes. I threw myself away on medium format for ever: the waist level finder, the square and of course those gorgeous slides.
Later on I added a Nikkor 25cm 4.0 lens
and a 2x teleconverter. A prism and
several backs completed the kit.
Because I am not a real 'wide-angle
type' and therefore don't miss
something wider than 50mm, this is
a very fine set for all my
landscape needs.
Alas, the EC specimens I have
were in desperate need of
retirement. Sometimes it was a bit
difficult to keep them going, which
is a bad thing especially during
weddings.
Since the end of 2002 I have been
using a Rollei 6008i
and 50, 80 and 150 lenses and some
tubes and a prism. A very fine set,
for landscape as well.
Within a year I added a 250mm lens and a 2x convertor.
What I forgot to mention untill now is the Rolleicord Va I have had since some time, to replace the Yashica D I sadly sold long ago. A fine lens, rather light weight and mechanically very reliable. Nice to take with me as soon as the whole bag is a bit too much.
And last and very importantly: my tripod. I have been using for years now - and with great pleasure - some Manfrotto tripods with the 410 geared head. This head can be adjusted very precisely and smoothly. In my book it is a real winner, for landscape and reportage alike.
As I said: for landscape I use medium format. But why?
These cameras deliver more detail and prints are more colour true than the usual 35mm images. This is because of the larger negative or slides (as you can see at the right). A 30x30cm / 12x12" enlargement of a medium format negative has the same sharpness as a 13x18cm / 5x7" enlargement of a 35mm one.
The photos here illustrate the ratio of both formats:
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| 35mm: 24x36mm | medium format: 56x56mm |
More on medium format can be found in these articles!
In my opinion a photograph is
best seen in a series (see
also approaches
in landscape photography).
A landscape or nature photo can
just depict a certain part of the
whole. A series can map an entire
landscape. And a series enables you
to show the element time
which is by definition part of the
landscape (confer What is
landscape?).
I do not want to say though, that I
don't try to catch a landscape with
one image!
A series is shown at its best with slide projection. The photographs sparkle and are very bright, while they tell the story of a landscape. a biotope or a journey. And the images can be accompanied with music or other sounds.
I myself show my slides with 2
projectors and a simple dissolve
unit (Rollei 66S and 150 2.8 Heidosmats
and a Bartok dissolver)
and a 5 feet screen for small rooms.
Music is simply played on a
CD-player. I like to use music from
the country where the slides were
shot.
Because I add spoken comments 'life',
I don't make an entire audio-visual show,
in which music, comments and images
are in a fixed combination.
